


Adventures in Aztec Temples

by Goldendoodlegamer11



Category: Escape the Night (Web Series)
Genre: Arguing, Aztec, Aztec Puzzles, Aztec Temples, Cute Liza-Joey reunion, Death, Gen, Holding Grudges, I'm over the moon that she's in season four, Liza and Bretman are the BROTP I never knew I always wanted, Liza deserves all the hugs in the world, Meeting, Recruitment, Selection, meetings, next season drops and this is probably no longer canon, season four hype!!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-29
Updated: 2019-06-29
Packaged: 2020-05-12 17:52:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19234150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Goldendoodlegamer11/pseuds/Goldendoodlegamer11
Summary: A new cast of the dead must be selected to come back to life and participate in yet another adventure - but there’s a bit of confusion during the selection process. It's up to Liza to select who she thinks should have another chance - but a price comes with that second chance.





	Adventures in Aztec Temples

**Author's Note:**

> I made this both in my excitement for season 4 of ETN and my saltiness that Liza’s not the cast. Also Liza’s literally my favourite and I wanted her to have a warm cocoa and hug in the form of a story.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liza is recruited by the Society Against Evil in an attempt to contact Joey and bring back the dead, but it's no small task.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In my absolute hype for season four, I decided to make a Liza-centric Aztec-themed fic for her to right some wrongs! Also just because I love Liza and I want her to have a fic all to herself. Also btw, in this fic season four takes place a couple months after season three mkay-
> 
> -be warned after season four drops this is just gonna be another AU lol

One minute she's about to prank an asleep Andrea Brooks with a pair of crashing cymbals, the next she's standing in a darkened room. Torches line the wall, which she can hardly see. The walls seemed to be etched with copper and dark aquamarine lines that form along the gold and bronze to form small masks on the sides. It seems so...empty. Devoid of anything at all. She thinks she can hear screams somewhere in the distance. "What the-"

“Hello Liza.”

She spins around. In the darkness, only illuminated by a smoky copper-flamed torch. He’s tall, much taller than her. A member of the Society, she assumes. Savannah-coloured hair that’s swept to the side, and hickory coloured eyes staring at her steadily. He's wearing a light taiga-coloured jacket and knee-length penny-brown khakis, and has a permanently crooked nose, probably broken before he died. He's kinda cute.

 

“I have a boyfriend,” Liza responds automatically, then stops.

Those words sound hollow and weird in her throat. She hasn’t made that joke in forever. 

Does she anymore? The thought sends an ache in her chest.

 

“I have come here to discuss important matters with you,” he says, ignoring her exclamation. “My name is Micah Jefferson, with the Society. You are The Explorer, correct?” 

Liza nods weakly. She suddenly feels unbelievably tired, like the place she's in currently has a sort of zapping energy to it. The whole thing screams _'evil temple of doom, leave.'_ “That’s me.” As if she needs any more proof, she tugs at her collar, revealing the long thin scar along her neck that she’s had for a few years now. Micah furrows his eyebrows. 

“Good. Please, follow me. I have instructions of your task.” 

Liza has to run to catch up with the Society member, who’s strides are a lot longer than her’s. The golden and bronze halls swirl with lines and ancient hieroglyphics, torches doing abysmally at lighting the place up. Liza thinks she can hear water nearby. “I have recently gotten information by word of mouth that a certain Joey Graceffa is about to retrieve the Revival Stone. He is going to use it to bring people back from the dead.”

Liza’s mouth falls open ever-so slightly. For the first time in years, hope of going back to the living sparks within her chest. “ _Really?_ ”

 

"Yes. Now, you are to select people who you want Joey to revive.”

Liza stops. Micah continues walking. “Wait, hold up - you want me to choose them? Why? No offense, but can't you or one of the other Society guys do it?”

"We have tried, and the process simply does not allow our attempts to choose. We have called to action almost every one of your dead friends, and none of them have been able to use the crystal. Those who cannot wield it cannot choose who gets to come back. We have narrowed it down to three of you; You, Ms. Pons, and Mr. Dawson. It is your turn trying to communicate to Joey. Also because I asked nicely."

Somewhere in the distance, a rock crumbles off of a stalactite and plops into a small puddle. Liza lets the information sink in. “Will they all come back to life?” 

It takes a minute. “Yes and no.” That’s all he says.

 

Eventually the two stop in front of a large door. Micah grabs a small torch and then places his hand in the slot of a mask’s mouth. It raises its mouth slightly, and the Society member takes out his hand just as it closes. A small green button lights up, and cogs and gears spin and turn as the door opens. Liza’s eyebrows raise, but she says nothing.

There, in the center, they appear to be in a museum of sorts. Odd Aztec objects stick out; spears, masks, clothing. In the middle are a bunch of small terra-cotta podiums in the center. And there, at the far wall, is a blue crystal, cooling the warm and swirling with lavenders and other darker blue shades.

"Please, I would advise you attempt to contact Mr. Graceffa before you choose who you would like to come back. We do not know if you can contact him, after all. Select the fallen who you think deserve to return to the living, and those people will come back. I will be waiting here."

Liza nods.

She walks up the the center of the podium, and instantly the door shuts behind her. The light from the torches outside are gone, leaving just the small light within the swirls on the walls and the one torch over-head the crystal encased in the glass. Micah's disappeared behind the door as well.

On the podiums are a square swirling with light, showing different guests over the years. All part of the different Games laid out by the Society and Cursed God. Just above the crystal is a seemingly giant copper-golden screen. It's fit with copper-coloured slots. Liza tentatively touches a random card, and suddenly in one of the slots is filled with Roi's excitedly smiling face. Scared, she touches it again and it's gone. _Alright,_ she thinks. _Pick the people you want. I can do that._

 

She looks around her at all the cards. “Well that's easy,” she mumbles, and selects the two people she wants to come back the most; Gabbie and Alex. The purple-blue haired girl had ranted to anyone who would hear her about how she died and how unfair it had been; if Liza didn't select her, she'd never hear the end of it.

And Alex had just deserved so much better. He had to hear that his girlfriend died and watch Destorm be completely smug about it, had to see multiple friends - including her! - die in front of his eyes, and then give up. He had been so tired when he came to the afterlife, and hadn't said anything to anyone for hours. 

He had just hugged Lauren close, refusing to say anything. She had stroked his hair soothingly, murmuring into his hair, and then he finally talked, asking if they could give him some space. Liza had felt devastated for him. He had to at least have a chance. 

 

Their faces slot into the spaces on the slab. Liza twirls around herself and picks Tana, who she’d comforted after she’d arrived with the dead in tears, muttering, “I don’t understand what I did, I was trying to help, I thought they cared about me.” over and over again. Sure, it’d been a year and some since then, but Liza still felt like it hadn’t been fair. She chooses Destorm, grinning mischievously. 

Sure, he was creepy, and yes, he was going to be paired with Alex, but this was about second chances after all. 

 

_Maybe he won't be such a sore winner this time.  
_

 

Then she stops. Finds her own picture. She taps it, but it does nothing. She tries again, and again nothing happens.

Liza twists her lip. _That's weird. Why won't it let me pick myself?_   The Explorer spins around, rapping her knuckles on the door. "Ey! Micah? I think your Selection thing broke or something, because I can't choose myself." 

There's a small moment of silence, and finally the Society member says cryptically, "I will explain when you are done. Attempt to choose more people."  
"Micah - do you ever talk in longer sentences or are they all just short."  
"Yes."  
"That's not an answer."  
"I suggest you choose your time wisely. We do not have all day, you know," He snaps from the other side of the door, which creaks. Liza sighs and returns to her job. 

She selects people who she’d heard stories from; Rosanna, Justine, Tim. All with terrifying deaths; Justine being betrayed, Ro losing a massive group challenge and being sacrificed, and Tim sacrificing himself willingly to save another guest.

All their faces pop up and slide into the slots perfectly, each giving their own dim glow of light from underneath, turning the copper slab to a more golden-dusk colour. Liza feels her heart glow.

She selects Colleen finally, and moves over to pick out herself. Again, nothing. She sighs, surveys around, and reaches to pick someone else, when a suddenly loud _CHLUNK_ goes off somewhere, and the slab disappears from the wall. Liza blinks, confused. _I don't think that was supposed to happen!_

 _"Hey, Micah!_ It disappeared. I didn't get to choose the last -"  
"That means you have finished selecting. Go towards the crystal."

Liza shrugs, tugging at her beige ascot, and walks over to the periwinkle and sea-blue crystal sitting on its little museum-like pedestal. She picks it up, and instantly the room crackles and snaps with electric energy. The torches dim significantly over-top her head, and the crystal begins to glow. The faces she's selected all whir through the surface.

And then there's Joey, looking down at her, and Liza almost breaks down right then and there.

 

_"Joey!"_

He looks a lot different, with white styled hair and an ascot like her's. He looks exhausted, but relieved, with an aura of tired determination. There's a few scars along his face. Upon seeing her, his eyes light up. " _Liza!_ " She can't hear him, but can see his mouth move. Then the crystal crackles. "Joey, Joey are you there?" There, he's back. She assumes she doesn't have much time. 

"This is your chance to make things right," she says, unsure if he can even hear her. Her face twists up in urgency. "Please, we need you." She pauses. "Come save us." 

Joey disappears, and the crystal's hum dims and ends. She swallows, throat closing slightly, and she places it back in its pedestal. Weakly, feeling tired and adrenaline-filled all at once, she walks to the other side of the room  and knocks on the door. There's a whirring of gears, and the door opens. Micah looks up to her. "Have you finished the selection."  
Liza nods. Micah nods, seeming pleased.

"We will see your selections and make the arrangements to bring your Selected back from the dead." He begins to walk away, and Liza catches up to him. 

"What'll happen to them?" She wonders. _And what about the rest of us?_ She wants to ask.   
"They'll be given new roles and outfits and put into a sleep-stasis, until Mr. Graceffa can free them." He stops suddenly, then turns to her. "I will contact you with further when we need you. Your work with the Society is not over yet."

He lightly touches her arm, and Liza's back in the afterlife's mansion. She crashes onto the cymbals, and Andrea Brooks wakes with a start. "Don't do that!" She laughs, holding her hand to her heart. Liza looks around, blinking wildly. Andrea's smile falls.

"Are you okay?"  
"Uh - yeah I just, something happened." 

_And I have a feeling it's just getting started._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I'm super excited for this, it's going to be three chapters and all three are basically just Liza preparing for absolute chaos and death tbh. I love my Society Against Evil son - Also are y'all ready for lots of cute reunions and also tons of arguments n stuff because that's what this is basically. I'm so excited to write the rest of this story. 
> 
> Next Chapter: Liza recruits the ninth member of the night, and reunites with some old friends while she's at it. Also, Micah is starting to get attached.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Let’s hope for Liza in/having a big role this new season! Fingers crossed!!


End file.
